By Brian McKay
When running a business whether large or small is can be hard to be successful. There is so much that you need to keep on top of. Such as managing staff, developing relationships with customers, and marketing your products. But there are a few golden rules for success that you apply no matter what the size of your company. Read on to find out what they are.
Do look after your staff
Firstly from the management position, it can be easy to see your staff as just another resource. You are doing them a favor by providing regular work, right? While this may be at least partly true, you’ll probably be surprised to not that most of your staff don't actually see it that way. In fact, they tend to see it as sort of a two-way relationship.
So they expect to be valued and praised for completing their job well. They also expect their employer to be looking out for them financially and in regarding their health.
These are important factors to consider when you are running a business. This is because having effective and happy staff can actually make the difference between failure and success. So it is definitely worth the investment in the long run.
Don’t be ignorant of legal requirements
Of course, there are plenty legal requirements, as well as just fair practices that you have to adhere to when running a business. It is essential that you are aware of these.
Some involve how you pay and treat your staff. Others cover how your staff behave and treat each other. For example, what is acceptable behavior in the workplace, and what is seen as harassment?
Still, others are relevant to the fees you pay and the materials that you use to run your enterprise. For example buying supplies such as red diesel drums is cheaper than buying normal clear diesel. But it can only be used in machines that do not travel on public roads like plant machinery. Be careful of a situation like this where you could incur a fine, just through being ignorant of the laws that are in place.
Don't ignore customer satisfaction
Another big no-no in business, no matter what type of company you are running, is ignoring your customer's feedback. Most companies rely on the feedback that they receive from customers to convince new customers to purchase with them. So making sure that they are happy and any problems have been resolved is vital to your profit margins.
This is especially true as most feedback is easily accessible on the internet now. That means disgruntled customers have a very quick and easy way of voicing their concerns. No one will expect you to have no negative comments at all. But they will expect a good company to reply to them in a timely and polite manner, and do everything in their power to resolve the complaint ASAP.
Do try and keep to deadlines
Lastly, it's an oldie but a goodie. Try and keep to deadlines where possible. Remember that other people are often depending on your service or product to arrive, before they can proceed with the next stage of what they are doing.
That means if there is a delay, they get put behind and lose time and money. Neither which is going to please, or make them think of your organization in positive terms.
